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Contents: (click on heading links below to skip to relevant section)
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KINCARDINE AND DEESIDE BEFRIENDING
 When the coronavirus pandemic hit our shores earlier this year and government restrictions limited meeting indoors, the issue of isolation became far more acute and the role of befriending took on greater significance. For those living in our communities with only the tv or radio for company, the simple act of befriending is a vital lifeline.
Here in the north east, local charity Kincardine and Deeside Befriending (KDB) tackles this issue thanks to a team of trained volunteer befrienders.
Volunteers are a necessary and vital component of the befriending service. The role of the befriender is invaluable particularly during recent times. When the UK was plunged into lockdown, face to face meetings were stopped. Liz Treasure, senior coordinator at KDB said “It was absolutely vital we maintained continuity and routine for our clients. We provided telephone training so weekly phone conversations could instead take place between befriender and befriendee. Some volunteers revisited the art of letter writing. These gestures filled a void but undoubtedly people missed their weekly visits and outings. We were delighted to re-introduce face to face meetings only to return to phone calls a few weeks later following the Scottish government’s recent set of measures.
Undoubtedly this year has been challenging. I want to thank and praise the efforts of our volunteers for going the extra mile during this unprecedented time. The staff and trustees of KDB were delighted that AVA (Aberdeenshire Voluntary Action) recently awarded our volunteers an AVA Community Spirit award for their contribution to our local communities during lockdown.”
If you like talking to others, are a good listener and have a couple of hours each week or fortnight, you may be interested in volunteering? Our befrienders range from 18 to 80+ and come from all walks of life. For further information please refer to our website - kdbefriending.org.uk or contact Liz Treasure on 01569 765714 or liz.treasure@kdbefriending.org.uk.
You can follow Kincardine and Deeside Befriending’s activity on their new Facebook page or browse their redesigned website which was kindly updated by volunteer Stephen Hall.
 
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TSI Network Scotland – Manifesto for Change
TSI Scotland Network have launched the 'Manifesto for Change' with five critical ‘asks’ based around place, community, connection, volunteering and fair work.
The TSI Scotland Network is made up of 32 Third Sector Interfaces (TSI) one in every local authority area, and they have come together to produce a manifesto ahead of the Scottish Parliament elections in 2021. In Aberdeenshire, your TSI is Aberdeenshire Voluntary Action (AVA).
To read the manifesto in full, please visit www.avashire.org.uk/tsi-manifesto
Carers (Scotland) Act 2016 Briefing 
The Carers (Scotland) Act 2016 was implemented in April 2018 and placed new duties on all Scottish local authorities and health and social care partnerships. The act applies to both adult and young carers and aims to support carers’ health and wellbeing, to make caring more sustainable.
Due to the Coronavirus pandemic we delayed the intended March 2020 bulletin, however as we adjust to a new normal, we thought it would be good to give an update on how we’ve been supporting carers during this difficult time. Whilst some scheduled work has had to change or pause, we have continued to support carers whilst adhering to government guidelines and restrictions. We continue to carry out our duties under the Carers Act and are making progress with other actions identified in the Aberdeenshire Adult Carer and Young Carer Strategies
You can view Issue 14 of the Carers Act Briefing here.
VOICES TOGETHER LAUNCHES VIRTUAL CHOIR
After two successful Virtual Choir songs, Voices Together are back with a plan to sing their way through the winter!
Winter and the Christmas period can be a difficult time so the group have chosen a song to remind us of the power of love and support to get us through! We'll be singing 'I've got my love to keep me warm' by Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong!
Those who sign up will have the opportunity to attend an optional singing workshop with our choir leader Emilie Boyd. Emilie won’t put you on the spot and will practice your singing on mute.
The choir is open to people of all singing abilities and we welcome absolutely everybody to get involved. Whether you’re a family member yourself, someone who has used or uses drugs or alcohol or a person who wants to participate for some fun and connection – we'd love for you to be a part of it.
Sign up and find out more here: https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/VoicesTogetherWinterEdition
Be quick, places are limited! Sign ups close on 9th of November or when all places are filled.
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Visit the AVA website for regularly updated funding information  at: https://www.avashire.org.uk/funding.html Our AVA Funding Officer can also assist with funding searches. Contact Donna Speed at: Donna.Speed@avashire.org.uk or Tel: 07964 036821.
COVID-19 FUNDING AND FINANCE
AVA has recently developed a file of Covid-19 funding information that can be downloaded and shared. It will be updated on a weekly basis and will show funds that are open at the time of publishing. You can download the file via the funding page of our website.
Meikle Carewe Wind Farm Community Fund
The Meikle Carewe Wind Farm Community Fund opens for applications on 1 November 2020.
Applications to the fund can be made from not-for-profit groups and organisations, based in the following Community Council areas:
- Crathes, Drumoak and Durris
- Newtonhill, Muchalls and Cammachmore
- North Kincardine Rural
- Portlethen and District
- Stonehaven and District
The energy company RES has established a community fund which will see more than £25,000 available to support local community projects every year during the lifetime of the Meikle Carewe Wind Farm.
The fund is open for applications from 1 November 2020 to 31 January 2021.
Click for Guidance Notes and an Application Form.
For more information, or to discuss your application, please contact windfarms@kdp.scot.
The Co-op Food Fund 
The Co-op Food Fund aims to support organisations or projects that provide access to food and sustainable solutions to food poverty in Scotland.
- Easy access to nutritious food and balanced means to those on a limited budget
- Education and learning on low cost meal solutions, limiting food waste and shopping smartly
- Support to future generations by prioritising the wellbeing of children and young people struggling with food insecurity
- Provide locally delivered food programmes for vulnerable communities and which help address food insecurity and its impacts
Grants between £1,000 and 5,000 are available. The window for applications is quite short with the programme closing on the 13th of November.
For more information, or to apply, please visit Foundation Scotland.
Creative Scotland Youth Arts Emergency Funding 
Creative Scotland have released new funds to support project activity with children and young people.
Youth Arts Access Fund
The Access Fund offers grants of between £5k and £30k to individuals and organisations based in Scotland who run youth arts programmes to support activity from March 2021 onwards. Examples of activities that this fund may support are group based activity, youth led projects, project activity working across early learning, schools and other family support and community settings.
Applications that propose specific actions and partnerships to tackle inequality by engaging with vulnerable groups of children and young people will be prioritised. Please see our website for further information. Deadline for applications is Thursday 12th November 2020.
If you would like to talk to someone at Creative Scotland about these opportunities, please contact enquiries@creativescotland.com
Community Climate Asset Fund
The Community Climate Asset Fund (CCAF) is a £3.5 million Scottish Government fund, administered by Keep Scotland Beautiful, and provides capital funding for community based organisations to tackle climate change. The fund is designed to support communities to reduce usage of petrol and diesel cars, cut waste, grow local food and reduce emissions from community buildings.
The main types of asset that the CCAF can fund can be split under seven main headings:
• Energy efficiency measures in community buildings
• Equipment to support community food growing
• Electric vehicles and charging infrastructure for community-run car clubs, for running existing climate change projects and for delivering services that have been identified as a priority by the community as a result of COVID-19
• Bikes and facilities to reduce greenhouse gas emissions
• Electric bikes and charging infrastructure for community groups running existing climate change projects
• Equipment to reduce waste in your community
• Equipment to support an established community wood fuel scheme.
Grants range between a minimum of £1,000 and maximum of £100,000. The application deadline is midday 9 November 2020.
Further information on the above and the types of asset that are fundable and not fundable, plus an outline of ineligible costs is available on the CCAF website here.
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Search for volunteering opportunities on the AVA Website
AVA has a volunteering opportunities search facility on our website which makes it easier to find opportunities in the Aberdeenshire area. You can refine your search depending on what kind of volunteering you are looking for and you can also make it area specific.
Visit the AVA website at: https://www.avashire.org.uk/volunteering.html
Daniel's Place in Macduff have the following volunteer opportunities.
Please click on the vacancy title for more information or to apply:
Charity Shop Volunteer
As a volunteer, you will help open up the charity shop, make sure the shop is clean and tidy and that donations are displayed properly. At the end of the day, you will close the shop and ensure all paperwork is complete.
Foodbank Volunteer
As a Foodbank volunteer, you will ensure that shelves are stocked and that 'use first' items are displayed. Process forms for service users.
Furniture Hall Volunteer
Assist with opening the hall, ensuring the shop is clean and tidy and that donations are displayed appropriately. You will also greet customers, answer telephone enquiries.
Delivery Driver
You will drive our delivery van and assist with furniture collections/deliveries.
Aberdeenshire North Foodbank are currently recruiting the below volunteer opportunities:
Please click on the vacancy title for more information or to apply:
Peterhead Warehouse Volunteers
This role involves working as part of the warehouse team in managing our stock, preparing food parcels and organising food for deliveries Food donations are sorted, weighed and packed ready
for distribution or for storage in the warehouse. You need a keen eye for detail and be able to undertake light and heavy lifting.
Peterhead Warehouse Drivers
Delivering food boxes locally. This will be in Peterhead and surrounding areas initially then when the centre opens will only be to rural areas.
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Aberdeenshire Third Sector Strategy Group are delighted to bring you the first Aberdeenshire Third Sector Week, highlighting the value and diversity of our local third sector.
This programme aims to capture the essence of the great work undertaken by the Third Sector across Aberdeenshire - but by no means is this collection the complete picture!
To view the programme just click on the image below, or visit Avashire.org.uk for all updates.
Children in Scotland Annual Conference 12th 
November 2020
Join Children in Scotland for a free day of sharing, learning and connecting as we celebrate the Scottish children’s sector.
The Children in Scotland annual conference is the flagship CPD event of the year for the Scottish children’s sector. With thanks to sponsors Gillespie MacAndrew they are able to make this event free to attend.
Join Children in Scotland for a mix of live and pre-recorded content, including:
- Being bold: building budgets for children’s wellbeing
- Digital engagement: getting it right with children and young people
- Listen and learn: children’s priorities in their own words
- Equal protection: children’s questions and perspectives
To book on to this free event, visit here.
Upcoming Diabetes Scotland events
Diabetes and Emotional Wellbeing
7pm, Wednesday 11 November 2020
Diabetes Scotland will be joined by Dr Kirsty McLennan, Clinical Psychologist at NHS Grampian, to discuss looking after your emotional wellbeing when you're living with diabetes.
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Diabetes Research: DNA that forms part of the gene for insulin
7pm, Wednesday 25 November 2020
Dr Zoe Waller, Associate Professor in Drug Discovery, will talk about her Diabetes UK-funded project looking at the DNA that forms part of the gene for insulin and what that could mean for treating diabetes.
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Please email scotland@diabetes.org.uk to register and to submit any questions for Dr McLennan for the Emotional Wellbeing event.
Hidden Harm – Effective Home Visits - Online Webinar 
Tuesday 1 December 10.00-11.30am
Home visits provide an opportunity to try to gain an understanding of what is happening within a family. Our multi-agency workforce needs to be curious by asking questions and observing the child’s surroundings. We need to ask ourselves ‘What is life like for the child living at home?’ ‘What is it like for the family?’ Our focus is to be ‘attuned to the child’s world’ and to pay attention not only to what the child says but also what they are not saying.
Our Guest Speaker Joanna Nicolas, Safeguarding Consultant will provide an online presentation about making the most of home visits. She will discuss how social distancing, use of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and pressures families face because of the coronavirus pandemic can impact on effective home visits.
Healthcare Improvement Scotland - Community Engagement in Primary Care Event
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Family Recovery College – New Course starts in November
This course is for anyone living in Scotland concerned about someone else’s alcohol or drug use. Anyone, aged 16 years and older, who is affected by another person’s drug or alcohol use is warmly welcomed – that includes biological and non-biological families, LGBT+ people and families, families with or without children, friends, partners, siblings, young people, older people, foster carers, kinship carers, neighbours, work colleagues, etc.
Register your interest here.
Financial First Aid Workshops
6th Nov 1-3pm
11th Nov 6-8pm
14th Nov 11am-1pm
The WEA is offering the above workshops in financial first aid. These workshops are aimed at community groups and organisations who might be working with people in financial difficulties as well as individuals looking to improve their financial first aid skills.
The workshops take a practical look at how we can deal with financial emergencies at the individual and community level. They help learners to identify emergencies, act quickly to aid those in crisis and connect them to specialist services and support networks. Topics covered reflect the range of interlocking crises affecting people daily, such as benefits problems, redundancy, ill health, debt and eviction. Designed around the needs, interests and numeracy level of learners, the workshops use examples from daily life to increase learners’ confidence in dealing with the technical and confusing language of banks, employers, landlords and the benefits office.
The initial workshop lasts for 2 hours but further workshops may be possible to look at particular topics in more detail. Learners will be provided with: financial first aid pack, copy of slides, list of resources, referring agencies and helplines.
Workshops will be delivered over Zoom.
If you or your group is interested in finding out more about financial first aid workshops or book a place, get in touch with Ed Garrett email: e.garrett@wea.org.uk
2021 Domestic Abuse Training Schedule: Now Available for 
Booking
Grampian Women’s Aid provide a wide range of training and development opportunities to increase awareness and understanding of domestic abuse and gender-based violence. We have developed our training sessions in accordance with the principles, ethos and high standards of the Women's Aid movement and all are underpinned by the Scottish Government's "Equally Safe" strategy, Scotland's strategy to prevent and eradicate violence against women and girls.
Our training courses provide a base level introduction and aims to equip candidates with the knowledge, confidence and skills they need to recognise, respond to and work effectively with survivors of domestic abuse.
Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, for 2021, we have developed online training webinars for a number of topics. Research indicates that short, bite sized, sessions promote the best learning when it comes to online delivery. Hence, each webinar is of 2 hours duration.
For further information and to book your place, please follow this link: http://grampian-womens-aid.com/our-services/training/
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Free bus travel for under 19 year olds in Scotland
The Scottish Government intends to launch a new statutory national concessionary travel scheme providing free bus travel for young people resident in Scotland up to their 19th birthday (referred to as ‘under 19s’ or ‘under 19’ throughout this consultation). We anticipate that legislation to underpin the scheme would be required to be laid in Parliament in early 2021 and the scheme would come into effect later in 2021.
The consultation will run for six weeks and we are inviting responses by Monday 7 December.
Participate here.
The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on equalities and human rights
What Groups and Individuals in Scotland are disproportionately impacted by Coronavirus?
This inquiry seeks to identify the evidence that some groups of people are experiencing disproportionately negative impacts of the coronavirus, and by some of the measures taken to deal with it. The inquiry will look at the measures the Scottish Government and other public bodies, including regulatory and oversight bodies, can take to help. It will also examine measures taken by public bodies and the impacts they may have on equality and human rights.
Read more and take part here.
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Managing the challenges of parenting with Parent Club
Being a parent or carer is the best job in the world, but it can also be one of the most stressful. There will be days when it all feels a little too much, especially at the moment. All kids can act up. Sometimes they do it to test boundaries, sometimes they want attention and other times they’re just being kids. You may find yourself getting wound up, especially if you’ve already had a tough or stressful day. It may feel impossible not to get angry or frustrated but there are things you can do which will help you stay calm.
1. If you’re angry, avoid eye contact with them for a moment as you try to calm down.
2. Count to five with your eyes closed. You could even ask them to count with you.
3. Step away for 5 minutes if you can safely.
4. Take some deep breaths until you feel yourself calming down.
5. Pick your battles, some situations aren’t worth getting into an argument about.
6. Before you react, pause and think about how you want to deal with this.
7. Sometimes it’s best to talk things over when you’re not in the heat of the moment. Tell them that you’re both upset, and need a break right now. You can then talk about it later. There are also things you can do to help calm your child down. Here are some tips you can try:
1.Ask yourself why they’re misbehaving. They might just be tired, hungry, or excitable. If you don’t know what’s wrong, ask them. If they’re little, maybe use colours, pictures, or their toys to help.
2. Get down to their level. Sometimes all they need is a cuddle and let them know you understand how they feel.
3. Talk to them calmly to explain why what they were doing was wrong.
4. Let them know that you’re listening and understand their feelings.
5. With very young children, it may help to distract them with a book, a toy, or looking at what’s going on around you.
6. If you’re both shouting, no one hears each other. If you speak in a quiet voice, it’ll make you seem like you’re the one in control – and they’ll have to stop shouting to hear you.
Remember that you’re not alone – all of us struggle from time to time. There are lots of resources to help you manage the difficult situations.
ParentClub.scot offers lots of tips, advice and resources to help you manage the challenges of parenting, visit parentclub.scot/topics/coronavirus/coping-with-parenting.
Aberdeen Memories Gazette - Issue 1
This week sees the launch of a new online newsletter, the Memories Gazette, issued to support those affected by dementia, social isolation, loneliness and other conditions in North-East Scotland. It is prepared by volunteers associated with several local organisations and initially will be issued every two weeks, hopefully moving to weekly in due course.
To view Issue 1 of the Aberdeen Memories Gazette, click on the image below.
Vacancy - Head of Cancer Support Services CLAN Cancer 
Support
CLAN are looking for a collaborative and driven Head of Cancer Support Services to join their senior management team to lead and have management responsibility for a multi-disciplinary team providing CLAN’s programme of integrated support to people affected by cancer.
They will be responsible for ensuring that this programme is provided in accordance with CLAN’s policies and procedures, culture, values and brand and that all CLAN’s cancer support centres and outreach services are appropriately resourced and managed in support of the programme and client’s needs. Reporting to the Chief Executive, the postholder will be responsible for keeping Trustees informed and advised of all factors relevant to cancer service delivery.
For more information on this vacancy, please visit clanhouse.org
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The next AVA Newsletter will be published the week beginning 30th November. The deadline for contributions to this edition is Friday 20th November. We are always looking for local groups across the Shire to contribute to our newsletters. Whether it be to advertise an event, showcase your work, appeal for volunteers or celebrate a successful funding bid - whatever it is, we’d love to hear about it! If you're an AVA member and would like to promote your work in our Members' Spotlight, please get in touch.
If you would like to be included any information in future editions, please contact newsletter@avashire.org.uk
Please ensure we have your correct contact details. We would appreciate if you could take 5 minutes to update your email preferences to make sure you receive relevant information.
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